Yes, this issue is a stuff up and in the absence of any other...

Yes, this issue is a stuff up and in the absence of any other info, I put it down to the election prospects. When the company planned the SPP the National Party's prospects were looking good but there has been a very rapid turnaround in Labour's when they took on their new leader.
The market hates uncertainty and at the moment there is a lot of uncertainty over the impact of a Labour/Green win. In the absence of any statement by NTL then it would seem the company is just as uncertain as the rest of us.
The rub is that the company is not under funding pressure right now and so they could have delayed the issue until after the election and decided if it was still appropriate or not.
I am of the view that the existing permits for limited extraction will continue if the Government changes but NTL is very unlikely to obtain permits for any expansion.